U.S. Spending Bill Requires EPA Conform With NAS Policy

2:00 PM MST | December 19, 2011 | Kara Sissell

U.S. lawmakers have passed an omnibus spending bill requiring EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) to incorporate "based on chemical specific datasets and biological effects" the recommendations of Chapter 7 of the National Academy of Sciences review of the IRIS process. The bill's passage is a victory for industry groups, which have sought changes to the IRIS assessment process, saying it fails to incorporate recent peer-reviewed scientific studies. EPA also is required to "issue a progress report to House and Senate Committees on...